From FLORENCE to SIENA (Wed 3 June)

We headed for Siena today, about an hours drive from where we were staying on the southern fringe of Florence. Had to park out of the city as it is another walled city. It’s often a challenge in some of these larger cities that have an ‘Old City’ in the middle to try and find parking that is not too far away. If you do happen to stray into the forbidden zones, you’ll get home to a massive fine, as they photograph every number plate. Fortunately we haven’t done that yet … I don’t think.

Siena is a very cool place. We had only planned on being there a few hours, but we would have loved to have stayed a lot longer and had a proper look around. Each of these walled towns that we have been to, has quite a different feel to it, and this one we like. We first headed for the main Piazza, ‘Piazza del Campo’. A large Piazza that is divided into nine fan shaped sections via cobblestone patterns that represent the nine regions of the council. They have a horse race around the circumference annually (I think), with each race lasting about 90 seconds. A huge event. It has also been the scene of executions and bullfights, but these days it is lined with cafes.

We went from here past the Duomo (another fantastic, very large piece of architecture) to ‘Chiesa di San Domenico’. The highlight of this church is the preserved head of St Catherine which is on display, along with the whip with which she used to flog herself for the wellbeing of the souls of the faithful. That is one nasty looking whip, it is more like a chain. She died in Rome and most of her remains are preserved there, but her head was returned to Siena, where she came from.

We followed this up with a very generous gelato, and then as we were walking back to the car we saw some signs for a museum of torture and capital punishment. Hmmm … now how tempting is that, If only we had more time. Siena is a lovely place we would love to come back.